Today is the last day of July and it will end with a flame. The temp today is to be above one hundred and the heat index even higher; nothing like starting August with all the burners lit. I guess the advice for today is to stay calm. Hope we can do it. I have heard from a number of friends this week and it seems that most of them and myself have been dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that goes along with simply being alive and making our attempts to live meaningfully in this process called life. I have found that for me a few lines from two country songs can help me get a grip when I feel that I am losing my grip. Here is the first that I enjoy. It is about trains and railroad crossings; we have much difficulty with them in this state.
When the gates are all down
And the lights are all flashing
And the whistle is blowing in vain;
If you stay on the tracks Ignoring the facts, then don’t blame the wreck on the train.
I have found that I am in a continuous process of moving from blind grief to blind faith; I have also noticed that I have needed to assign meanings to the individual letters in order to help myself through the bad or down days. I started with grief and the g stand for my making sure to grasp the reality of my situation. I am now blind and it seems that will be my lot until I reach the check out counter for this life. Grasp the reality of the situation is identified in the song lyrics above. If I ignore the facts of my situation by disregarding the gates being down, the lights all flashing and the whistle blowing in vain; then if I continue to not do what is necessary to live in my new reality, then I can’t blame what happens to my faith and attitude if I don’t get off the tracks.
I must live and cope with the world as a blind person and I must do that with all the ability that this seventy one year old man has left. To grieve for the past will only leave me embittered and being a pain to be around. I will simply not do that; I will get off the tracks and out of the way of the emotional train wreck that would be if I don’t grasp and live by the new reality of my life. I repeat those lyrics when I am feeling down and blue and admonish myself to get off the tracks and out of the way. It really helps me to do that.
I even have installed a three trumpet Union Pacific diesel road horn on the east side of my house and have the air compressor and indoor button so that I can blow the horn in order to remind me to get off the tracks and to get on with living. It is really a nice, loud horn and it works wonders for me. So here’s to all of us grasping the reality of our life situations and living them as best we can on a day-by-day basis. I also have another set of lyrics that I use and I will send them along in a later email. Hope that you all have a great weekend.
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